Spaceships and Septic Eyes
by hiddendreamer67
Summary: Mark, part of a high end space program, is on an exploration mission when things take a turn for the worse. He crashes on an unknown planet, where everything looks the same as on earth, except for one tiny detail. Everything is huge. Tiny!Mark and Giant!Jack. (co-written by my friend arc852 who can be found on AO3 and tumblr)
1. Came to space to have a good time

"Karen, initiate autopilot." Mark used the voice command installed in his ship. Standing up and stretching his arms above his head. "Set course for coordinates 4.00, 3500, 1000.1 set H."

"Yes, Captain Mark." His computer Karen confirmed his request. Good- that should keep the ship on target while Mark went to get a little shut-eye. Technically Mark wasn't supposed to leave his post while the ship was in motion, but Mark saw no harm in letting Karen take over this one time. Mark retired to his chambers and closed his eyes. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

Karen was piloting his little cruiser deep into sector 7 quadrant 4B, uncharted territory. The module behind him to his left was recording his findings through every empty lightyear traveled. Mark failed to hold in a large yawn. It seemed like this quadrant would be just as empty as those he had previously traveled. While Mark had always adored the idea of space travel as a kid, he didn't find out until later just how boring it could be. Space was just so huge! What were the chances of a little human like him ever going to find something exciting? The statistics were not in his favor.

Mark jumped out of bed at the sound of the emergency alarms going off, only to fall flat on his face in his haste.

"Karen, what's going on?" Mark asked urgently, rushing back to the cockpit while the lights flashed red and the alarms continued to blare. Mark was still a bit dazed. How long was he out?

"Captain Mark." Karen's voice caught him up to speed. "The ship is experiencing some interference."

"What interf- oh no." Mark didn't need to ask Karen to know what was causing the problem. A planet so large that Mark couldn't see the whole thing blocked the view of what was just empty space when he went to sleep. "Karen, engage all the thrusters!"

"Thrusters already engaged." Karen informed him. Mark cursed to himself. He tugged up on the wheel, but it was no use. He was no match for the gravitational pull of the planet. As the planet's green surface grew rapidly in his vision, Mark realized his efforts were futile. Ditching the attempts of pulling out, Mark rushed back to gather the emergency survival kits and braced for impact.

Jack was washing the dishes of all things when he heard it. It was faint and if he had had the water running then he would have never heard it. The sound itself was strange, but if he had to guess he would say it was the sound of something hitting the ground. Maybe a bird or something?

He put down the dish and sponge, drying his hands. His curiosity was peaked. Living near the woods like this, away from everyone else, not a lot of things happened. Even if it turned out to be a bird, at least it was something for him to do. Better than doing the dishes anyway.

He quickly slipped on his shoes and a jacket before heading outside. He looked around the immediate area, but when nothing caught his eye he continued deeper into his back woods. Keeping his eyes to the ground. The sound had been distant, but it couldn't have been that far!

Mark groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. It felt sore, but he thanked his lucky stars nothing felt broken. The lights were all out, and it was dead silent. "Status update, Karen." There was no response. "Karen?" Mark tried again, but it was no use. Karen was gone.

Mark sighed, knowing he'd have to venture out into the possibly hostile nature of this unknown planet if he had any hope of repairing his ship. It took Mark a good while to pry the doors open with the automatic locks offline. Indigenous plant life greeted him, similar to the texture and look of grass on Earth but reaching up to his chest. He began to venture out, looking around. The entire scene reminded him of Earth, but on a far larger scale. He put his hand up against what seemed to be a tree trunk, but craning his neck up Mark couldn't see the top.

"What is this place?" Mark muttered to himself. Just then, the ground began to tremble. The trembles increased in magnitude like an earthquake. What gigantic beast was approaching? Frightened, Mark sought cover beneath the tree roots and looked back at his ship.

Jack had been right in his assumption. He had only ventured maybe a couple hundred feet before finding what he assumed to be the thing that had made the noise.

Jack's eyes widened at the sight of the small hunk of metal that seemed to be halfway into the dirt floor. He hesitated for only a moment before stepping closer and dropping to his knees. He wiped the dirt off the front with his sleeve, his reflection now looking back at him through the glass covering the entire front of it. As Jack continued to inspect it, he realized It couldn't have been a drone, like he had first thought. At least, not a drone that Jack had ever seen before.

He picked it up out of the little crater it had created, gasping in shock at how heavy it was. It was small, but it weighed quite a few more pounds then one might think. Even so, he lifted it up to his face, trying to look through the glass to see the inside.

There seemed to be a little seat, with a tiny wheel and buttons. Jack's mind immediately went to the thought of it being some sort of model ship. Like, maybe a model of one of those cool ships from those space movies that everyone liked. Because what else could it be, if not that or a drone? Another question popped into Jack's mind, where had it come from? He lived a good few miles away from anyone else. Not only that, but if this thing had crashed, meaning that it had been flying somehow.

Jack had way too many questions and no answers, but he found himself smiling regardless. He had just stumbled onto a mystery of sorts. A mystery that he was going to get to the bottom of. He stood up, the model or whatever it was in his hands. He scanned the forest floor once more for any parts he had missed and when nothing jumped out at him he turned around and headed back to his little cabin.


	2. Shed some light on the subject

Mark could only watch in horror as the giant, humanoid alien took his vessel back into its dwelling, carrying it as easily as if it were a toy. Mark needed that! Desperately, Mark sprinted after the being once it was indoors. He made a mental note to stay out of sight from that monster, not knowing if it was hostile or friendly. All Mark knew was that without that ship, there was no way he was getting off this planet alive.

Mark held his breath next to the door, listening to see if the giant was lying in wait. When he heard no noise, Mark cautiously began to army crawl through the crack beneath the doorway. It was a tight fit, but Mark made it. Reaching back, he dragged his survival kit through the crack as well. He never knew when the contents would come in handy.

The giant being was across the vast room, standing at what looked to be a table half his height. Mark gazed around at his surroundings, surprised at just how human the alien dwelling looked. Mark wasn't sure from his perspective, but it seemed to be an average kitchen.

Jack entered his house, ignoring the still dirty dishes and placed the ship looking thing on his kitchen table. He stretched out his arms after setting it down, the thing weighed a good few pounds and even carrying it the short way back had made his arms start to hurt. Maybe that was a sign he needed to get out more. Well, either way he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

It was time to crack this thing open. After all, he wouldn't get anywhere by just looking at the outside. He started in the front, looking at the glass. He looked around the edges, trying to see if the front could be lifted, but to no avail. He lightly knocked on the glass, causing it to crack even more.

Mark winced, hearing sounds of destruction coming from far above his head. His poor ship... Mark could only hope whatever wreckage the alien left behind could still be salvaged.

Keeping a careful eye on him, Mark began to sneak along the edge of the wall. He felt uneasy being out in the open, but luckily the cabinets provided the slightest bit of cover so it was unlikely the being would see him given its height.

"Whoops," Jack said, and took his hand away. The glass had already been cracked to begin with and now Jack had just made it worse. He didn't want to break the thing. At least, not anymore than it already was. Cause by the looks of things it had already taken quite the beating when it crashed. He bit his lip and moved away from the front, inspecting the rest. He thumbed the side until he felt a slight indent. A door maybe? Taking a closer look, Jack could just make out the lines of a sliding door.

Smiling, Jack dug his nail into the line and tried to force it open. It seemed stuck at first, but it very quickly gave in to his strength. The door slid open and Jack hollered in victory. He bent down, not wanting to lift the ship again, and looked through the door with one eye.

"Woah…" Jack breathed out. It was a little dark, but from what he could see, it was almost like a little den. He could just make out some sort of desk and maybe a chair? There were some other shapes that might have been some sort of fridge or something and what seemed like tiny little papers littered the floor, but it was too freakin' dark to really get a good look at anything.

Huffing, Jack stood and looked around the immediate area, trying to figure out where he kept his lighters. He groaned slightly when he remembered they were all the way in his room, since the last time he used it was when the power had gone out last winter and he had never bothered to bring it back out. Sighing, he got up and went to go fetch one, hoping he could remember were in his room it was.

The ground trembled with the being's every step, causing Mark to shake at his core. He worried that he had been spotted from the corner of its eye, but instead the alien left the room. Mark waited a moment to see if the giant would reappear. When a minute passed and still nothing happened, Mark decided now was his best chance.

Mark dashed across the kitchen floor, heart racing. When he reached the table leg he quickly pulled his climbing picks from the survival kit. With Mark's upper arm strength, he stabbed the picks into the wood and used them to climb up quickly but carefully. A fall from this height would be fatal.

"Glad I'm not afraid of heights." Mark chuckled darkly to himself, still not daring to look down. Reaching the top, he pulled himself up onto the table top. He groaned, looking at the state of his ship. The glass was covered in spiderweb cracks and the side door looked to have been jammed open, but otherwise the ship looked relatively okay.

"Now what?" Mark asked himself. This was the alien's home and it was likely to be back soon. Mark still didn't have the materials necessary to fix the engine and fly off. There was only one desperate choice left- the backup communications system. If Mark could send out even the slightest message, there would still be a chance of him getting off this planet alive.

Jack was basically turning his room upside down looking for his stupid lighters. He knew they were small, but it couldn't be that hard to find! They had to be somewhere. He double checked in his bedside table drawers, hoping they would just magically show up. They didn't, however, and he closed them rather harshly.

As he looked around his room, a thought came to him and he blinked. Suddenly getting down on all fours, he looked under the bed. Near the back wall was a slight glow.

"Finally!"

Mark pulled out the flashlight from his kit, glancing around. The place was a mess, both from the crash and being tumbled about by a giant. It was difficult to navigate his way back to the control center. Mark ducked down, checking under the pilot's seat. Mark breathed a sigh of relief to see the little green light of the com system was on, but there were a few golden sparks flying off that indicated it was in less than perfect condition. Mark turned it on, but received nothing but static.

"C'mon…" Mark urged the machine on, rapidly mashing buttons and fiddling with the exposed wires. Mark nearly cried with joy when the shaky messenger began to send a signal.

"Ethan!" Mark spoke quickly, addressing his team in the message. "You've got to listen." The signal cut out for a moment. Mark cursed silently in his head, wishing for once technology would work for him. He could feel the floor begin to shake, indicating the giant was coming back. Hitting the side of the box, the machine came back online.

"Lock on to my coordinates." Mark instructed, trying to speak slower as the panic built inside. "The ship crashed and I'm stranded. Send help. It's a giant planet, possibly hostile. There's a giant who found my ship and I don't know how long I can stay in hiding. Karen's down. Hurry, before-" The message cut off again. Mark would have tried for a third time, but by then the ship shook so much that he knew it was time to go. Surely by now the giant was just outside. Keeping low so as not to be visible through the glass, Mark began to sneak back to try and hide in his chambers, hoping to wait the alien out. The passageway was blocked by a knocked-over cabinet, which Mark carefully slid over. He crept back past the den through which he had entered.

"What the…?" Mark whispered in confusion as a cube the size of his head was tossed into the room through the still open doorway. It was light blue in color and seemed to glow. Just as Mark was deciding whether to investigate or bolt the other direction, the cube seemed to explode and fill the room with a bright light. Mark covered his eyes, blinking back spots as his vision adjusted. Turning to the doorway, Mark was truly a deer caught in headlights when he spotted a wide blue eyeball staring right into his soul.

"Uh….hi." Mark gulped.


	3. Get a Grip

Ethan ran through the halls, heartbeat pounding and blue hair swept back in a panic. He came to the door he was looking for, pounding in the code on the side like his life depended on it. His hand shook, causing him to have to re-enter the code, but eventually it opened. He ran in, all heads turning towards him with confusion and wide eyes.

"Message...Mark...ship! We have to…!" His panicked mind wouldn't allow him to form complete sentences.

"Woah, Ethan, calm down!" Tyler, the leader, came over to calm Ethan down with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" Ethan took a deep breath.

"I think you need to see the message Mark just sent me." Ethan said.

"Alright." Tyler agreed, gesturing for Amy and Katherine to follow as well. "Let's all hear it." Ethan nodded and led the way to his station, walking a little faster than normal. He punched in his own code and the doors opened, revealing a large monitor with a message already pulled up on it. Ethan took a seat and the others crowded around him.

"He sent me two messages and they're little hard to make out, but…" He trailed off and pushed play on the first message.

" _Ethan! You've...listen." End of first message_. Ethan didn't wait to look at the team's faces of confusion, playing the second message wordlessly.

" _... coordinates…. ship crashed ... stranded. Send help. .. planet... hostile. There's a giant ... found my ship ...don't know ... stay in hiding. ... Hurry, before-" End of second message._

"Amy, ready the second ship." Tyler decided immediately. "Ethan, lock onto Mark's last known coordinates. Katherine, try to decode the rest of the message and get the equipment on board. Let's bring him home."

Jack could only stare in shock at what looked to be a _tiny person_. He couldn't have been more than a couple inches tall. And he could talk. Slowly, his shocked expression changed into a wide grin.

"You're so small," he said in awe. "And you can talk!" He practically yelled the last bit. He couldn't help it.

Mark winced at the sound of the creature's loud voice, covering his ears. With his fight-or-flight instincts kicking in, Mark chose flight. He rushed further down the passageway, hoping to hide in his personal chambers. Back there, the creature wouldn't be able to reach him. Mark would be relatively safe...hopefully.

Jack saw the tiny man start to run away, deeper into the ship. Not wanting him to get away and without thinking, Jack took the ship in his hands and started tilting it towards him. Hoping to get the guy out.

"Woah!" Mark yelped, desperately trying to cling to the edge of the door as the floor began to tilt, his entire ship shaking more than it would in an asteroid field. Mark ducked as bits of scrap metal tumbled past his head. Losing his grip, Mark slid down the angled floor right past the opening and back into the cockpit.

Jack could once again see the man and smiled to himself. All that was left to do was bring him over to the doorway and out into the open. Jack tilted it again, farther this time, but was surprised by a sudden flashing red light coming from within the ship.

"Warning: exterior, immediate threat detected." The feminine robotic voice spoke aloud as the emergency flashing red lights once again went off.

"Karen?" Mark tilted his head in confusion, a bit dazed from hitting his head against the pilot's wheel. "You're alive?"

"Initiating defence system mechanics." Karen ignored Mark's question, being only a prerecorded voice for emergency situations. "Deterrence shields engaged."

"Woah!" Jack dropped the ship as a metal coating suddenly started coming out of the top. The side that Jack had been holding to tilt the ship dropped the few inches and Jack watched as metal coverings overtook the ship. It happened fast and soon the ship was unrecognizable, looking like a metal cocoon. Jack blinked, a questioning look appearing on his face. He tapped the metal.

"Hello?" Jack called out, wondering if the little guy was the one who had activated whatever had just happened.

Mark was caught off guard as he was slammed painfully into the floor of the ship when it was dropped. He groaned, slowly pulling himself off the ground. Mark looked up at the windows, only to see them barred by large slates of metal. All this shaking and prodding of the giant must have triggered the automatic shields.

"Thank god…" Mark sighed in relief. Finally life seemed to be going his way. Mark rolled his arms, testing out his various body parts for bruises or broken bones. While he felt sore, his vital organs all seemed intact and his skeleton was in one piece. Mark took a deep breath, only to be filled with dread at a sudden realization. Without the main power source intact, the shields' oxygen pumps would remain offline. Though the metal would keep him safe from the alien, Mark had just been sentenced to death by suffocation by his own ship.

"No!" Mark began to race around, looking for a tool to break through the shields to keep some air flowing. All his tools powerful enough to make a hole required electricity, a resource Mark desperately lacked. He searched through the emergency kit. Nope, a knife wasn't getting through that solid metal. In desperation Mark began to pound on the outer walls, knowing death was eminent. His only hope now was that the giant would be able to break through his defences fast enough that Mark would get some air.

Jack blinked as he heard banging coming from inside. It was fast and panicked, making Jack feel dread well up in him. Something must be wrong. Forget about not wanting to break the ship, he had to get the guy out of there!

"Sam!" He called out. In his room, a small circular robot reacted to his voice, turning on. The front part opened, revealing it to look like a giant eyeball. A giant, green eyeball. It blinked and made a sound similar to a squeak. It floated into the air and looked around for its owner.

"Sam!" It perked up and flew into the kitchen, seeing Jack, he made a happy whirring type sound. Jack tried to offer a smile to his little robot buddy, but knew they needed to act fast, if the ever growing banging was anything to go by.

"Sam, buddy. I need you to break apart this ship. Without hurting the guy inside," Sam tilted his head as its orders were given. It made another happy sound, confirming it understood and moved over to the ship. Sam's eyeball grew wide and a green light swept over the ship. It only took a second to scan and once it was done, Sam knew where the guy was and moved accordingly, so the guy wouldn't be hurt.

Its eyes closed, this time a red light could be seen pouring out. Jack stood back, knowing Sam was charging up.

"Watch out!" He yelled out a warning, even though he knew it wouldn't hit him. Sam's eye opened and a beam of red light shot out, hitting the metal and sending sparks flying. As the beam moved, Jack could see the ship being torn apart.

"It's working!" Jack yelled happily.

Mark couldn't help but let out a startled scream as a red laser light went right through the metal on his left, too close for comfort. Did this giant alien seriously have some kind of advanced laser cutters? What kind of strange planet was this land of giants? Mark backed away quickly into the passageway as he watched the laser cut through his defenses like plastic. It was a bit unnerving, knowing Mark's species literally had nothing strong enough to protect them from this race, but at least he wasn't going to suffocate anymore.

"Yeah, now I'm just going to be put at the mercy of a being a hundred times my size and strength." Mark spoke aloud to himself, trying to take some deep breaths to keep from panicking. "That's much better." The walls of metal fell off along with the vast majority of the front of the ship, leaving Mark fully exposed. Mark looked at the charred remnants of his control station. Whatever was left of his precious communications system must be destroyed beyond repair by now.

Sam stopped as the walls of metal dropped. It turned to Jack, making a happy whirring as if to say 'I did it!' Jack smiled and pet Sam.

"Good job buddy," He looked at the ship and saw the tiny person, standing there and staring at his now broken ship. He instructed Sam to stay with a simple raised hand and walked over so he was now in front of the ship's new opening, staring down at the tiny guy. His smile was still very present.

"Hey little guy, don't worry, you're all right," Jack said as he reached a hand towards him. His fingers grazed his side and back as they wrapped around his frame. Jack could only stare in awe as his hand closed around him, the feeling alone was like nothing Jack had felt before. Even holding something like a mouse was nothing in comparison to _this_. His hand lifted into the air and settled in front of his face.

"You are so cool." Jack chuckled.


	4. Baby Sam is Best Sam

Mark squirmed, unable to escape the giant's grip without taking a few dozen foot fall to the table below. He had been frozen in fear as those tree-sized fingers came and plucked him from the ground like an action figure, only to be brought face to face with the beast. The look on its face was unnerving, like that of a kid who just learned how to kill ants with a magnifying glass. Mark hoped he wasn't the ant.

"Uh, thanks." Mark decided to respond, hoping this alien would be more merciful to an intelligent, cooperative tiny being. He couldn't seem to stay still. The feeling of giant fingerprints all over him was giving him goosebumps.

Jack's' eyes lit up when he heard the guy talk again. It was interesting, the guy was so tiny, but his voice was deeper than his own. It made him chuckle again and he brought his hand down to chest level. Feeling his squirms and wanting a better look at him, Jack opened his hand. Allowing him to sit in his palm.

"You're so adorable!" Jack couldn't contain the excitement he felt. He grabbed one of the guy's hands in a gentle grip between his thumb and forefinger, amazed by the tiny fingers and hand and _everything_.

"Do you have a name, little guy?" Jack asked, his wide smile still present.

"My name is Mark." Mark said, trying to ignore his racing heart as the giant gripped his arm between two fingers. At any moment he could break Mark's arm into tiny splinters with very little effort. "Mark Fischbach, primary captain of Team Markiplier." Mark took another deep breath. _Just breathe, Mark. You're not dead yet._ "What about you?"

Jack tilted his head at the title given to him, confused. But ignored it for the moment in favor of having learned his name.

"Mark," he tried the name on his tongue. It suited him, in all honesty.

"You can call me Jack." He said, answering the question thrown back at him. He still held Mark's arms and was still too fascinated to let go just yet. He moved them up and down, making sure he wasn't pulling too hard.

"What's this about being a captain?"

Mark winced, more out of fear than actual pain as 'Jack' moved his arm around. Mark prayed that Jack didn't get a sudden urge to pop it out of its socket.

"I'm the main pilot on call for exploration expeditions and other missions." Mark explained, looking away from his arm and the giant fingers, but it was literally impossible to look at anything besides Jack. The guy was just too big. "I fly my ship over there, ' _Bubblebutt_ ', around the galaxy, mapping out space for human intelligence purposes. I crash landed on your planet when the gravitational pull proved too strong for _Bubblebutt."_

Jack's eyes widened at Mark's explanation. He finally let go of Mark's arm, and stared at him for a moment before laughing.

"You're telling me that you fly around _in space_ and explore?! Little dude, that is literally impossible, but I appreciate the story. Also Bubblebutt? Humans? You're totally just pulling these names out of thin air." Jack's laughter died down to snickering and he raised Mark up again. Turning his hand slightly in order to study him more.

"But seriously, what are ya?"

"Er, no." Mark corrected him. Mark could understand that Jack knew nothing about humans, considering Mark was probably the first to ever find this planet, but that would make his explanation a lot harder. Not to mention, that meant it was still undetermined whether Jack's species was hostile towards humankind.

"I am what is called a human." Mark explained. At least his arm was finally free. "I named my spaceship _Bubblebutt_ , but yeah it is a little silly. I know it must seem strange from your perspective, but it is possible for that, ahem, 'tiny' ship to fly through space. Several hundreds of thousands just like it are traversing the stars everyday. Humans have been traveling up there for centuries."

Jack processed the information. His smile replaced with a look of disbelief. His head tilted to the side.

"Not sure I still believe ya. Considering we've determined space travel can never be achieved." He shrugged and then his brain stuck with a thing Mark had said.

"Wait. Are you saying that there are more of you little guys running around!" Jack's smile returned and he was suddenly wondering if any of them were close by.

"No!" Mark stopped Jack's train of thought quickly. Mark was thankful that at least being alone here meant that none of his team was in immediate danger. "No, I came alone. It was a solo mission." Mark decided to drop the issue of space travel, knowing Jack wouldn't believe him, but what was all this nonsense about space travel being impossible? Where else would his ship have come from? From his current observations, this giant race didn't seem very intelligent.

Jack was slightly disappointed at the fact there wasn't anyone else, but his smile returned not a second later. He wasn't sure what he would do if there were more 'humans' anyway. He heard a sound coming from close by and turned to see that Sam had gotten closer and was now hovering over his shoulder to get a better look at Mark. Its body was tilted and a confused, curious noise escaped him.

"Sam, no!" Jack ordered. Sam was a gentle robot for the most part, but it was also young. He didn't want anything to happen.

Mark couldn't help but stare at the strange floating green eyeball staring right back at him just over Jack's shoulder. It was clearly mechanical, but still gave the appearance of a living creature. A strange fusion of technology and life, perhaps? Maybe Mark underestimated this planet too soon.

"Uh, what is that?" Mark pointed to the green machine, not sure if it was hostile. Jack's order for it to stay away only furthered Mark's fears.

Jack's attention turned away from Sam, who didn't seem to be listening to him, and back onto Mark. He smiled, always happy to show off his buddy.

"This is Sam! It's my little companion robot! Actually, It helped get you out of your ship thing." Jack said proudly, as if Sam were his child. Sam turned away slightly, as if embarrassed by Jack's praise.

"How you doin'?" Mark greeted nervously, giving the robot a small wave.

Sam seemed to get over its embarrassment quite quickly and squeaked in response. Jack chuckled and pet Sam with his free hand.

"How about you go and rest up? That laser must have taken a lot out of you." Sam squeaked again and didn't move for a second, before giving a sort of nod and returning to Jack's room and its charging station. Jack watched it go and as soon as Sam was out of sight all his attention was once again focused on Mark.

"Sam's still pretty new, so it has to charge pretty often, but I love'em," he said, chuckling.

"Oh, yeah." Mark shrugged as if this was normal, but his head was still trying to comprehend what exactly 'Sam' was. It was clearly sentient to some level, especially if Jack went so far as to name it. "So, did you build Sam, or…where did it come from?" He was so enraptured by this phenomenon that his fears were beginning to subside. Jack seemed reasonable, in the few minutes he had known the guy.

Discoveries and mysteries like Sam were exactly why Mark had wanted to go into space travel in the first place. Despite the danger, Mark was getting a bit of an adrenaline rush he had been missing for a long time when mapping out empty miles of space.

Jack shrugged and stared off to where Sam had gone. "Not actually sure, he was just sent to me out of the blue one day a couple of months ago. Not sure who sent it either, but I love my little buddy, so I don't really care," He shrugged again and he smiled back down at Mark.

"Now enough about Sam and I, I want to know more about you!" Jack said, once again acting like an overexcited puppy.


	5. Small Talk (heh, get it?)

Jason blinked a few times, trying to process what he had just seen on the screen. "Hey, uh boss?" Jason looked over his shoulder at his superior. "You might want to take a look at this."

Mason groaned and put down his coffee, coming over to see what on Bossatron Jason wanted to show him.

"What is it Jason?" He took a look at the screen. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Well, a few minutes ago this surveillance drone caught sight of…" Jason gulped, not wanting to sound stupid. "...a, uh tiny man?"

"A...tiny man?" Mason looked to the screen once more and finally saw what his second in command was talking about. There really was a tiny humanoid figure in one of their employees house. A smirk grew on his face.

"Keep an eye on them."

"Heh, I'm really not that interesting." Mark chuckled nervously, not wanting to be the center of attention. He combed his hands through his hair. "I live with my dog Chica and work with four other people on my team. I hate the ocean and love space. That's pretty much all there is to it, isn't it?"

"Not interesting? You're like, four inches tall!" He blinked processing the other information Mark had said.

"Wait, there are tiny dogs too?! That's adorable!" Jack laughed, now picturing tiny dogs running all over the place and loving the idea of having like, twelve. Jack reached out with his other hand and ruffled Mark's hair, surprised by how floofy it was.

"Come on, theres gotta be more to ya."

Mark flinched as the giant finger touched his head, instincts kicking back in and making him jittery all over again. Mark clenched and unclenched his hands in his lap, trying to focus on anything besides the feel of Jack's fingers on him.

"Well, there's probably not any tiny dogs here, but on Earth where I come from everything is proportionate to my size." Mark explained. "Really, I'm not that short, despite what everyone says- you're planet is just on a much larger scale than mine!"

Jack frowned as he felt Mark flinch and took his finger away. Mark suddenly seemed fidgeting and something about how he said that last sentence… He bit his lip.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Uh…" Mark bit his lip as well. Of course he wasn't a-okay, but how could he express his hesitation to being held by a giant alien without offending said giant alien? Was there some sort of social code that addressed these types of awkward situations? Mark didn't know of one. Mark shifted a bit.

"I'm not a huge fan of heights." Mark lied. _Specifically, heights where I'm held in the palm of a stranger's hand far above the ground._

Jack's eyes widened. "Oh!" He felt bad now. He looked around the vicinity, before moving his hand to his chest and moving himself towards his living room. He spoke as he walked.

"I'm so sorry. I know how it feels, I'm scared of heights as well."

"Uh-huh." Mark made what he hoped was an agreeable noise, clinging desperately to Jack's palm as the 'ground' beneath him shifted and dropped with every step. Oh god, this was much worse.

Jack chuckled and made his way over to the couch and coffee table. He took a seat and held Mark over his lap. He smiled.

"Is that better?" Jack asked, not once thinking about putting him down, even if that was the obvious solution.

Mark looked down, only to regret it a moment later. He was still at least 40 feet off the ground, what was Jack thinking? Not to mention this did nothing to ease Mark's feelings about being held.

"Uh, no, not really." Mark admitted, still praying Jack would just hurry up and put him down.

Jack frowned and looked down, trying to decipher how far it would be for Mark. he winced when he got a semi-good idea. He finally looked toward the coffee table and with a little hesitation, deposited Mark onto it.

"How about that?" Jack asked, hoping the solid ground helped better.

"Better." Mark could have cried in relief at the feeling of a solid base beneath his feet, even if he was still far above the true ground. Looking up, it was a bit disorienting to see just how big Jack truly was- even sitting down and with Mark on the table, Mark had to crane his neck just to meet his gaze. Mark backed up a few paces to ease the strain on his neck. "Thanks."

Jack smiled. "Yeah, again sorry about that. Didn't realize you were afraid of heights." Although, somewhere in the back of Jack's mind, it didn't make much sense. But he ignored that part of his brain. He looked down at Mark, somehow more in awe at this perspective. It really showed how _tiny_ he was. Jack couldn't help but reach out a hand and give him a gentle poke in the chest. It was still surreal to him.

"Woah!" Mark put his hands up, stumbling back a step as the 'gentle' poke nearly pushed him over. It made Mark nervous that Jack didn't seem to know his own strength compared to humans yet. "Could you please, um, be careful?"

Jack, at least, looked sheepish when he realized he may have poked him a little harder than he thought. But was soon smiling again.

"Sorry, guess I don't know my own strength." He laughed it off and decided to not poke him anymore. Instead, Jack placed a finger on Mark's back, rubbing gently. His way of trying to make up for the poke.

"Stop that!" Mark said a little too loudly, pulling away from the touch. "Look, I get this is all new and cool and I'm sure you're curious, but I'm a fully grown man, not a puppy!" Mark calmed himself down with a deep breath, fingers drifting through his hair again. He had to be careful not to anger Jack, still not sure how dangerous Jack would be if he truly got enraged.

"Sorry." Mark apologized. "I know you're excited, but this is all a lot for me to take in. It's my first time being on a giant planet, you know."

Jack himself flinched back when Mark yelled. His hand dropped to the table and Jack suddenly felt very bad. Honestly he hadn't really been thinking about Mark's feelings in all of this, just his own curiosity. He supposed having a giant poke and prod at you was pretty intimidating now that he was thinking about it.

"Sorry, I-I didn't realize." Jack bit his lip, now that he was aware of Mark's feelings, he could sense the fear behind his words.

"Ya don't have to apologize. I'm not going to hurt ya."

"Jack…" Mark pinched the bridge of his nose. Of all the things he thought he'd have to do today when he woke up, consoling a clingy giant was not one of them. "It's okay. I know you wouldn't hurt me." _Lies._ Mark didn't know anything about Jack!

Although based on his energetic curiosity and hurt puppy dog eyes, Mark was beginning to get a good feel for the kind of person Jack was- it seemed like Jack was telling the truth about meaning him no harm. Then again, Jack didn't seem like the type to be careful. One wrong move and Mark would end up a splat on the ground, a crushed pile of bones, a-

Mark shook his head quickly, dispelling those disturbing images. It would do no good now to dwell in fear. If Mark was going to be stranded here, he'd probably need Jack's help. This world wasn't made for a human like him.

"Really, you've been more caring than i'd expect." Mark tried to patch up their already shaky relationship. "Thank you for…" _Not killing me instantly?_ "...getting me out of my ship." _Even if it was your fault._ Mark decided to keep those more snide comments to himself.

"Well I wasn't about to leave ya in there." Jack chuckled sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind his neck. He still didn't truly believe Mark's words, but he wasn't about to pry.

"What happened anyway?" Jack asked, curious about why the ship had suddenly been covered in metal.

"Well, it's this device on my ship meant to protect the people inside when faced with danger." Mark explained. "Meteor showers, perilous environments, hostile lifeforms, that sort of thing. It automatically deploys when it senses a threat. It probably sensed you tilting the ship around and activated itself to protect me."

Jack winced and looked down at his lap, fidgeting with his hands. So, basically the whole thing was his fault. He felt like a jerk, having not noticed sooner.

"I'm sorry," he seemed to be apologizing a lot right now. "I didn't know." Was that really any excuse though? Jack's eyes widened as he realized how much of a threat he was in that moment.

"Oh gosh, I could have seriously hurt you!"

Mark chuckled awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He didn't want to agree verbally, but Jack certainly wasn't wrong.

'Well, uh, you didn't!" Mark tried to sound positive. "Really, it's okay. In the end it all worked out. Without you and Sam I probably would have suffocated in there." Mark smacked a hand over his mouth, wishing he hadn't said that last part. Maybe mentioning the danger Jack _had_ put him in wasn't his brightest idea.

"You could have suffocated?!" Jack yelled, eyes wide. No wonder Mark had been panicking inside the ship. He could have _literally died_ and it all would have been Jack's fault. He put his head in his hands, really feeling like crap.

"Jack, I didn't!" Mark reached out his hands as if to comfort the giant dude, before realizing he wasn't in a position to help much. Being tiny kind of sucked. "Please, calm down dude. I didn't suffocate. I didn't even get close. We got off to a bit of a rocky start, man, but it's okay. You're fine, I'm fine, everything's fine."

Well everything was certainly not _fine-_ Mark was still trapped on a giant planet with no salvageable means of escape- at least it was more fine than when he had first crashed. Kind of. His ship was more broken than before, but he did seem to have made a...friend? Someone who at least seemed to get very upset at the thought of Mark dead. That at least made Jack qualified to be a... close acquaintance.

Jack looked up, removing his head from his hands. He didn't believe him when he said everything was fine, but he agreed that they've had a rocky start so far. Well, Jack was determined to change that. He gave a soft smile towards Mark.

"Maybe it would be best if we started over? Hi, my names Jack! What's yours?" Jack asked and waved.

"Hi, Jack!" Mark laughed, speaking in an overly enthusiastic tone. "I'm Mark! Nice to meet you!" He waved back as if any of this could be normal, even when pretending.

Jack's smile grew when he heard Mark laugh and go along with his little idea. He couldn't help but laugh as well. Maybe things would end up okay with them after all.


	6. 20 Questions, But Not Really

A deep rumble erupted from Jack's midsection and he placed a hand on his stomach. He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"Hey, feel like eating? I'm starving." It was getting kind of late and after everything that had happened, food had been the farthest thing from his mind.

Mark cringed at the sound, natural instincts giving him a jolt of fear when it was clear a 'predator' nearby was hungry. It was completely silly, as Mark knew Jack was too humane to actually eat a sentient being.

It still made Mark just about lose his appetite, though.

"I could eat." Mark shrugged nonchalantly, unable to meet Jack's gaze as his heartbeat tried to calm down.

"Cool! I think I might have some frozen pizza in the fridge I could heat up. Does that sound okay?" Jack asked.

"Wait, you guys have pizza too?" Mark was surprised to hear such a familiar food on such an unfamiliar planet.

Jack blinked and smiled. "Of course we do. What kind of abominations would we be if we didn't have pizza?" He chuckled. He actually hadn't thought much on if Mark even knew what pizza was. It was obvious he did now, though.

"Alright, I guess I'll be right back." He hesitated before standing up. Looking down at Mark, he realized how low his coffee table actually was. It was a good reminder on how _small_ he actually was. Not wanting to loom anymore than he already had, Jack was quick to head to the kitchen and get them their food.

Mark made a strange sound between a cough and clearing his throat to hide his discomfort with Jack's full height. Mark refused to look directly at him, but even out of the corner of his eye the guy was intimidating. And Mark wasn't even on the ground! He sighed, drumming his fingers on his leg while waiting for Jack to return.

The pizza took five minutes to cook, Jack's thoughts going to the tiny man he had in his living room. When the oven beeped at him he was jolted out of those thoughts and went to take out the pizza. He stared at the pizza for a good minute, thinking about how he was going to do this so mark could eat it easily. He hummed and got out a knife, cutting the very edge of a slice of pizza and putting it on its own plate. With that done he put two slices for himself on his plate and carried them out into the living room. He was relieved when he saw Mark was still there.

"Dinner's here!" Jack was quick to sit down and he placed the two plates of pizza on the table. Mark's plate was placed closest to him. "Enjoy!"

Mark stared down 'his' plate, which was at least twice his size and the sliver of pizza longer than his body. While it was clear Jack had taken care to get Mark a smaller piece, the food was still too thick for Mark to simply pick up and eat with his hands. Not to mention, Mark didn't want to dive in and make a mess of himself like a neanderthal. Of course, he could use his knife...

Mark smacked himself in the forehead when he realized the emergency kit had been left behind in the remains of the ship when Jack, uh, rescued him.

"Hey, Jack?" Mark spoke up, knowing he had no chance of getting that kit back on his own.

Jack was in the middle of taking a bite when Mark spoke up. "What?" he tried asking, though it sounded a lot more garbled with his mouth full.

Mark tried to ignore the incredibly disgusting sounds of Jack chewing mouthfuls of food the size of a car far above his head.

"There's this emergency kit thing that I sort of need to uh, cut this down to size." Mark rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, embarrassed to be caught so unprepared. "It's back in my ship, if you could do me a solid and...go get it? Please?"

Jack swallowed, eyes wide. "Oh yeah, of course!" Looking back at the slice he had cut Mark in comparison to him he realized how off he had been. He stood and moved back to the kitchen and towards the broken ship still on the kitchen table. He looked inside, but realized he didn't actually know what the kit looked like. Biting his lip he thought _screw it_ and picked the entire thing up, heading back toward the living room.

He placed the ship on the coffee table a little ways away from them and their food and took back his seat on the couch once again.

"I wasn't sure what it looked like, so…" he trailed off.

"Woah!" Mark put out his hands to steady himself as the table shook at little when the ship was set down. He glanced at the wreckage, surprised. "Okay, that works I guess." Mark walked over to the front where it was still cut open. He shifted through the rubble and debris until he found the emergency kit.

"Aha!" Pulling it out triumphantly, he grabbed the knife and began to saw bits of the pizza slice off in more manageable pieces. It was still messy and he couldn't quite get all the layers of crust, cheese and sauce in one handheld section, but Mark was at least able to eat it.

Jack started back on his own pizza as he watched Mark with fascination. There was just something about watching the tiny movements. As he swallowed his next bite and idea came to him and he smiled.

"Hey! How about we play a little game?"

"A game?" Mark tried to picture the two of them playing a board game, but all Mark could see was either him having to sprint around the board to try and play, or Jack using him as a game piece. Neither was very appealing to the tired astronaut. "What kind of game?"

"Have you heard of twenty questions? We could get to know each other a little better." Jack explained, still grinning.

"The game twenty questions, where you ask twenty questions?" Mark grinned cheekily. "I'm familiar with the principle. Sure, why not? Let's do it."

"Shut up," Jack said though there was no real bite to it. His face lit up once again though, when his proposition was accepted.

"Cool! Alright, I guess I'll go first." He thought for a moment. He had a few complicated questions but he figured he would save those for later. Better to start simpler.

"Um...How old are you?" Jack finally asked.

"Seven." Mark joked. "Or at least I act like it. I'm 27. What about you?"

"Oh same! On both accounts. I actually turned 27 quite recently." He thought back to the little party his family had put on for him. It had been nice to see everyone again. He thought about his next question.

"When's your birthday?" Not the best question, but an important one all the same.

"June 28th on the Earth calendar year." Mark answered, of course that probably meant nothing to an alien on a planet far from the milky way galaxy. "Hmm, what's your favorite food?" He took another chunk of pizza.

Jack was confused but decided not to dwell further on the date. It would probably just confuse him anyway. Jack smiled at the question, making a scene of taking another bite out of his pizza.

"Pizza," he said his mouth once again full. He swallowed quickly. "That or cake. Or cookies. Can't really decide." he laughed. Mark rolled his eyes.

"How tall are you? Compared to others your size?" Jack was actually quite curious about the answer to this question.

"Tall enough, but all my friends are super tall so I seem short." Mark snorted to himself, looking up at Jack. Not much seemed to have changed. "Okay, what are you afraid of?"

"Wow getting deep." Jack chuckled. "Heights, but I think I mentioned that before." Jack frowned slightly when he was reminded of a little earlier. He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to decide on whether or not to ask.

"Are you...actually afraid of heights?" Jack decided to go ahead and ask. They were playing twenty questions after all.

"I'm not fond of falling," Mark replied, staying cryptic, "or more so I'm afraid of hitting the ground and getting hurt." Mark took another bite, trying to decide whether to say more. "I will admit though that I never had much problem with heights until I got here. Mannequins and the ocean are what really give me goosebumps." Mark took yet another bite to stop himself from rambling. With deliberate slowness, he chewed and swallowed.

"Anyway!" Mark said in an overly fake cheery voice. "Favorite color?"

Jack frowned and winced and the implications behind Mark's words. He probably should have figured that though. It's not like he took any real offense to it anyway. He himself took another large bite of pizza, finishing off one of his slices.

"Red, probably not what you were expecting." Jack answered as he ran a hand through his green hair, making Mark laugh. He then thought back to what Mark said.

"You said you're scared of the ocean, but that you go out and explore space? Isn't space and the ocean kind of the same thing?" Jack asked, confused.

"It is not the same thing!" Mark argued, immediately getting defensive. "The ocean is an unknown area on your own planet with creepy and dangerous lifeforms and it's a spot that's hostile where you can't survive your own home! At least in space you know you're not welcome anyways, but you were clever enough to join the stars and defy the laws of nature. Space is so cool." Mark ripped a piece of pizza off more viciously than usual. "And that totally counted as two questions."

Mark took a moment to remember something Jack mentioned earlier. "Now, what the heck did you mean about space travel not being possible and all that nonsense? You sound like someone out of the medieval ages."

Jack could only stare at Mark with wide eyes as he talked passionately about space. It was kind of endearing, hearing him talk about something like that. It kind of made Jack believe him about the whole space thing.

"We had been working towards a way to go into space, but everything failed. We couldn't even figure out a way to make it out of the troposphere. Eventually everyone just gave up and deemed it impossible and not worth it anyway." Jack shrugged and got started on his second piece of pizza.

"So, you're really from space?" Jack asked, finally allowing himself to believe it.

"Yes, I'm really from space." Mark tried to hide his groan at having to repeat himself. "And my goodness, you're scientists suck if they just gave up. Why did they decide it wouldn't be worth it?"

Jack shrugged again. "They said we had all we needed here and that space was just full of empty planets anyway. Clearly they were wrong." As Jack looked at the tiny alien that had crashed in his back woods.

"What is, uh, Earth like exactly?" Jack asked, hoping he had said Mark's planet's name right.

"Well, it's all to my scale of course." Mark furrowed his brow, trying to think how to describe his planet without fully knowing what Jack's home was like for reference. "There's lots of land and it's a planet driven by water-based lifeforms. It got a little damaged for a while when humans polluted it in pursuit of science, but recently there's been movements to restore its prehistoric glory and all that." Mark looked around him at the walls of the giant house, realizing just how difficult it would be for Mark to ever see more of this planet with his own two feet.

"What is this planet called, anyways?" Mark asked.

Jack listened intently as Mark spoke of his home planet. "Its called Bossatron and from the sounds of things, it's a lot like your planet! Other than the size difference. And the pollution. I don't think we've had a problem with pollution for a good 100 or 200 years now." He shrugged. It sounded like they weren't much different after all.

"Favorite genre of, well, anything?" Jack asked, going back to basic questions for now.

"Anything?" Mark raised an eyebrow, getting cocky. "That's pretty vague, isn't it? Running out of ideas? I could answer 'classic' or 'comedy' or 'science fiction'. Which by the way, are the correct answers. Good luck figuring that out." Mark considered a moment, trying to think of another question. He sat down cross-legged next to the plate, starting to feel full.

"Do you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert?" Mark asked.

Jack chuckled, he should have figured his question was too broad. He was coming to learn quickly that Mark was a little ball of sass.

"Bit of both. Probably on the more extroverted side but I do love me some alone time now and then." Jack smiled and then gave a look of deep thought.

"Wait, what question are we on?"

"I thought it was your job to keep track!" Mark argued, pointing an accusing finger at him. "So no, I don't know what question we're on so I declare this to be question 20. It's your own fault. And that counted as a question."

Jack pouted, but decided that twenty questions would be a little much and so decided to go along with Mark's declaration. He thought hard, wanting this last question to be a good one. An idea entered his mind and he bit his lip, wondering if it would be a good idea or not. He wrestled with it for another second before deciding to just go for it. He took a breath and then slowly and carefully, Jack placed his hand in front of Mark, palm up. He gave a soft, kind smile.

"Can I hold you?"


	7. Sleep is for the Weak

Mark stood up quickly and backed away from the hand invading his personal bubble. Mark knew it was too much to expect Jack's curiosity to die down so soon. At least Jack wasn't being as grabby this time.

"Jack, you already held me." Mark reminded him, already wanting to forget the fairly traumatizing experience he wasn't eager to repeat. "And remember the whole thing about I'm not a puppy?"

"I know you're not a puppy!" Jack said, slightly offended. "And I know I already held you, but well, I guess my _actual_ question is… Do you trust me?"

"Hey, you can't go pulling that on me." Mark shifted uneasily. "That's not fair. It's not like that, Jack." Mark stared at the open palm a long time, trying to get used to the way the surface moved with Jack's every breath or the slight twitches of his restless fingers.

"Jack, c'mon." Mark crossed his arms. "This isn't about trust, this is about...boundaries. Besides, it'd be totally crazy for me to trust someone I just met with my life, not to mention irresponsible on my end to put so much pressure on you. You can understand, right?" Mark knew he was just making excuses for himself at this point.

Jack slumped, dejected. "O-Oh, right. I guess…" Jack looked down and swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew he had been asking Mark too much. He should have stopped while he was ahead. His hand stayed on the table, but retreated a few inches.

Mark sighed, feeling guilty at the look of disappointment on Jack's face. In Mark's mind, it was insane to put himself back in a situation where he was terrified and could easily get hurt; however, Mark tried to look at this from Jack's perspective. Jack was clearly trying his best to be patient and understanding despite having the power to force Mark to do pretty much anything. Not to mention, Mark would probably have to get used to being carried around for as long as he was stuck on planet Bossatron.

Cautiously, he began to approach the open palm. It would be easy to step right on...unless Jack were to suddenly flinch. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that; It had already been a very long day. Still, Mark could at least do this much for Jack if he wanted Jack to like him and respect his independence. Mark took a deep breath to steady himself, reached out a hand and touched Jack's little finger.

Jack gasped softly as he felt a feather light touch on his finger. He looked towards the table and saw that Mark had walked closer towards him and was now right next to his hand, touching it. Jack stayed still and silent, keeping his palm flat and watched to see what Mark would do next.

When the finger only tensed slightly under his touch, Mark used it to pull himself up onto the center palm. It was strange, standing on an oddly squishy platform consistently rising and falling with Jack's heartbeat. Strange, but not exactly unwelcome. Mark looked up from his feet to see Jack staring down at him with the eyes of a child on christmas.

"You're staring at me." Mark spoke up, wanting to break the tension.

Jack grinned when Mark stepped onto his hand, the feeling of small feet on his skin was so weird. Mark weighed almost nothing, maybe a bit more than a pen. It took Jack nothing to hold him. Or lift him up as Jack carefully did, stopping his hand at chest level.

"Sorry, I can't really help it. You're so small." Jack chuckled.

"Well you're so big, but you don't see me gawkin'." Mark joked, trying to distract himself from the sinking feeling in his stomach as he was lifted higher. Mark made sure to crouch down a bit to keep his balance, never letting go of Jack's pinky finger. For safety, of course.

Jack hummed in response and chuckled. He was glad to see Mark was doing okay with this so far. Their game from earlier popped into his mind and he smiled down at the tiny man in the palm of his hand.

"Hey, you still have your last question to ask ya know." Jack reminded him.

"Hmm…" Mark tried to consider his last question carefully. He wanted to make it count, but the events of the day had fried his brain. All he could think about was how tired he was and how much he yearned to be in his warm bed. Just the thought of sleep made Mark let out a large yawn. "I'm too tired for questions."

Jack couldn't help but yawn back. He blinked the moisture out of his eyes and finally looked at the clock to see what time it was. His eyes widened.

"Okay, yeah, it is _a lot_ later than I actually thought." He had been so fixated on Mark he hadn't noticed just how much time had passed by. But now they had another problem. What were they going to do for Mark's sleeping arrangements? Jack thought for a moment and looked down at Mark.

"Um, ya wanna sleep in my room?" Jack asked, hoping the question didn't come out as weird.

"Uh, i'm good." Mark let out a little awkward laugh. "We're not that close yet. Besides, I can just sleep in my ship." It was strange how Jack wanted to take care of Mark so badly that he seemed to forget that Mark was a fully capable space explorer. Or maybe Jack didn't fully respect his experience and skills yet. Nevertheless, Mark knew it'd be dangerous to fall into the trap of relying on Jack forever in this world. Mark had to stay on his toes.

"...Okay." Jack grinned and-after some hesitation-put Mark down near his ship. He then stood up to his full height and stretched.

"Well, I'm gonna go get ready for bed." He said and then left in the direction of his room.

Mark watched as Jack left, surprised to find him so uncharacteristically agreeable. Mark was sure Jack would have insisted on keeping Mark close. His curiosity had seemed boundless and bordering on possessive, but Jack had listened. Maybe Jack really did respect him.

"Good night!" Mark yelled after him, not sure if he was heard.

Mark entered his ship through the giant hole in the cockpit and made his way back to his chambers, sliding over the overturned filing cabinets once more. The door was jammed shut, but with the help of his emergency kit crowbar he got it open while dealing minimal damage. Not that it really mattered at this point. Too exhausted to do anything else, Mark collapsed into bed.

Jack got ready for bed like he said, putting on his pajamas and brushing his teeth. He then went over to his nightstand and cleared everything off of it, still grinning. He checked on Sam real fast before he left the room, his little buddy still 'asleep' in the corner. He patted its head and then made his way back into the living room.

He peaked a head out and glanced at the table. He didn't see Mark, which probably meant he was inside his ship already. _Perfect_ , Jack thought. He walked on over, trying to keep his steps light and then with one fluid motion, picked up the ship, making sure he was careful to not shake things so much like he did the first time. He carried the ship into his room and set it on the nightstand. He sat down in bed, grinning while staring at the ship.

Mark jolted awake as the ship began trembling all around him. He half expected the emergency lights to engage again before remembering the ship was completely offline. He gripped the sides of the bed tightly until just a few moments later when the shaking stopped.

"That was weird." Mark murmured to himself. Grabbing his knife for protection, Mark cautiously peered out into the hallway and went to investigate. Mark was shocked to find he was no longer on the familiar coffee table, and was instead in what appeared to be a giant bedroom of sorts. Jack's bedroom, probably. This suspicion was confirmed when Mark spotted Jack to his left, grinning like a cheshire cat. Mark glared back at him.

"I'm too tired for this." Mark sighed, retreating back into the privacy of his rooms.

"Goodnight to you too!" Jack said as he watched Mark retreat back to his room. He smiled, feeling accomplished before yawning and lying down in bed. He took one last look at the ship before closing his eyes and fading into sleep.

Mason walked back into the room, seeing Jason still sitting at the monitor. "Anything changed?" He asked, hands behind his back.

"No, sir." Jason shook his head, having been on constant surveillance ever since the sighting of the tiny man. "But, Sam will continue to keep watch. Right now both life forms seem to have fallen asleep."

"Well, keep watching." He walked over to the door and stopped in the doorway. "If this is what I think it is," he paused and smiled. "Then I have big plans."


	8. A Syrup Suprise

Jack's eyebrows knit together in concern and he shifted so he was sat up. He bit his lip. "But you tried, that's all that matters, right?" Jack tried, though he knew it probably wouldn't help much. The whole point had been for Mark to prove himself. Jack gave Mark a lopsided smile and nudged Mark's side a bit with a finger, making sure he was careful.

"Besides, you did a lot more than I thought you would. Even if it took forever, you still made it pretty far."

"Yeah." Mark replied, but his heart wasn't in it. He didn't even react when Jack nudged him. Mark sat up, crossing his arms and placing them on his knees as he moped. "Look, just forget it. Put me on the table and let's eat some stupid waffles."

Jack frowned, but complied. He stood up and set Mark down on the table, before going over to the fridge and grabbing the almost empty box of waffles. Thankfully, there was three left. Two for Jack and one for Mark, even if Mark couldn't eat all of it. He placed them in the toaster and waited a minute, glancing at Mark who was still moping on the table. He sighed as he took the waffles out and set them on plates. This was not how he wanted this morning to go.

"Breakfast is served!" Jack cried cheerfully, hoping to lighten the mood. He set the plates down and grabbed some syrup from the cabinet before taking a seat at the head of the table.

Mark stood up and went over to what clearly was his plate, taking out his knife to cut off chunks of waffle. It was kind of stiff and difficult to break, but Mark managed. There was no way he was going to ask Jack to cut up his waffle for him too. Mark glared at the food before tearing a bite off with his teeth.

"Do ya want some syrup with it?" Jack offered, holding up the bottle after he had poured some on his own waffles.

"Yeah, sure." Mark accepted his offer, hoping the syrup would help soften the thick waffle to be more manageable. Not to mention, syrup is freakin' delicious.

"Great!" Jack reached over and started pouring the syrup on his waffle but his arm kind of slipped on the table and made his arm jerk over Mark, pouring the syrup on him. Jack yelped and quickly righted himself and the bottle, but Mark was already covered.

"Whoops."

"Jack!" Mark yelled indignantly. "What the heck, dude?!" He shook his arms to try and get some off, but the syrup was too sticky. Not to mention, he was now soaked head to toe. Some morning this was turning out to be.

Jack winced, this morning was definitely not going well. Jack was about to apologize when he got a playful idea. Maybe something to cheer the both of them up. Jack grinned and pinched the back of Mark's shirt, picking him up and stopping him in front of his face. He chuckled.

"Ya look sweeter than the waffle now! Probably taste sweeter too." Jack licked his lips to sell the part.

"Uh...w-what?" Mark felt all the color drain from his face at Jack's words, dangling right in front of his mouth. That fight-or-flight instinct was kicking in at the mere implication. God, he hoped Jack was joking.

"And ya are the perfect size as well." Jack said it as if he was saying it more to himself. "I probably wouldn't even ruin my appetite." He said, trying hard not to laugh. He was having too much fun with this. He brought Mark slightly closer.

"S-stop!" Mark put his hands out in front of him, beginning to flail about as Jack really began to scare him. "Jack, please!" Mark was full-on panicking now, knowing that if Jack was serious there was nothing he could do to stop him. Mark tried not to cry as he was brought closer to his almost-friend's mouth.

Jack froze at Mark's panicked tone and flailing arms. _Oh no_ , he thought as guilt settled in his gut. That was not the reaction he had been expecting. He moved Mark away from his face and cupped him in his hands instead of dangling him in the air. His hands were getting sticky, but he didn't care. He felt awful when he noticed a few tears on Mark's face.

"No! No, I didn't mean to-I wasn't actually gonna eat ya!" Jack said, trying to explain himself and calm Mark down. He was stupid to think this would be a good idea.

"Then what the hell _were_ you doing?!" Mark shrieked, trying to calm his racing heart. He tried to rub his eyes clear but only ended up getting them covered in more syrup.

"I-I was trying to cheer you up! Ya know, just messing around and….stuff…" He trailed off, seeing how his 'messing around' was actually affecting Mark. His messing around really messed things up.

"Oh my god, Jack." Mark sighed. He was beginning to calm down, but there was still a bit of leftover adrenaline in his veins. "Do not scare me like that again. Ever." Jack's actions did seem to have one positive effect- Mark wasn't feeling mopey anymore. Instead, he felt scared to death.

Jack winced and looked down in guilt. "I'm sorry," he wondered how effective those words were. He sighed and looked down at his uneaten plate of waffles. He groaned. He didn't feel like eating anymore. He cleared his throat and turned back to Mark.

"Um, do ya wanna get cleaned up?" He really wished he hadn't been so clumsy, then this whole situation wouldn't have happened.

"No,I want to stay covered in syrup all day." Mark retorted, feeling sassy. He crossed his eyes as he watched a few droplets drip from his hair. "Yes, I'd like to get cleaned up." Unfortunately, he knew cleaning up would be something he'd need Jack's help with, as the ship's shower would not work without power.

Jack chuckled a bit, happy Mark was okay enough to sass at him, but still not feeling any less guilty.

"Right." He frowned. "Any ideas on how to do this?" Jack asked.

Mark frowned as well, looking around the room before being struck with an idea.

"If you run the faucet, I could probably treat it like a shower and get the majority off." Mark suggested. "I've got some spare clothes in my ship, so we can just go back to your room after."

"Oh! Yeah that sounds good." He turned towards the kitchen sink, but stopped when he saw all the dirty dishes.

"I forgot about those." He groaned. He never had a chance to finish them, after everything that happened yesterday.

"We'll have to go into the bathroom." He said before starting to walk there, it was back down the hallway and next to his room. With his hands full with Mark and dripping with syrup, he bumped the door open and entered to bathroom. He set Mark down on the counter and turned on the faucet washing his hands first. After his hands were clean, he kept the water running on a lower pressure and made sure it wasn't too hot or cold. He turned to Mark.

"Do you, uh, need help?" Jack asked.

"No, I'm good." Mark said, sliding down the edge of the sink and into the spray of water. It was similar to having buckets of water poured on him repeatedly, due to the sheer volume. Scrubbing viciously, Mark removed most of the syrup until he felt satisfied. Now mostly un-sticky, Mark went to climb back out only to realize the walls were too steep. Mark tried his best but just came sliding back down.

"Okay, I might need help." Mark said, looking up at Jack sheepishly.

Jack laughed and grabbed a washcloth that was close by, scooping Mark into it and wrapping him in it. He walked back into his room and set Mark down on the nightstand near his ship, the washcloth still around him so he could finish drying himself off.

Mark rubbed at his hair, floofing it up as he dried it. When he was mostly dry, Mark entered the ship and went back into his chambers. He changed into a clean suit, hanging up the wet one to dry on the back of a chair.

"Much better." Mark smiled, coming back out to give Jack a smile.

Meanwhile…..

"Ethan, how far are we from Mark's last known coordinates?" Tyler asked, standing next to Amy at the helm. Katherine and Ethan sat either side at their personal command modules.

"Um, about 3 lightyears. We should make it there in about 5 or so hours?" Ethan said, pushing some buttons on his computer. He bit his lip and turned to everyone. "Hey guys?"

"What's wrong, Ethan?" Katherine said, turning to him.

Ethan looked down. "I-I'm worried about what Mark's message said. What do you think we're going to find when we get there?" He turned to Amy, who bit her lip and in turn, focused on Tyler for the answer.

"I don't know, Ethan." Tyler admitted. "But we can't turn our back on Mark. No matter what awaits us down there, as a team we can overcome anything."

"But what if we can't!" Amy spoke up. "We don't know what's down there! And whatever it was Mark was really freaking out about it! Like full on panicking!" She had never seen her boyfriend so scared before. She shook just thinking about the thing that had made Mark that scared.

"Amy, calm down!" Katherine advised her. "Worrying won't help Mark, it won't change anything."

"Everybody needs to calm down." Tyler advised. "It's still going to be a long flight."


	9. Let's try this again

Jack took a seat on the bed as he waited for Mark to come back out. He grinned when he did, sporting off some dry clothes.

"Great!" Jack's smile slowly slipped off his face and he turned away from Mark, rubbing the back of his neck. He sighed.

"I'm sorry again for...earlier. I'm not being a very good host, huh?" Or a good anything, really.

Mark shrugged. "Well, to be fair, I don't know if I'd be much better in your shoes." Mark thought of his own obsession with tiny things, and realized he might have been even more curious than Jack. At least Jack seemed to begin to respect his choices, asking rather than grabbing.

Mark grabbed the grappling hook still hanging from the night stand, coiling up the rope in case he needed it later.

Jack watched as Mark rolled up his grappling hook, still amazed at the tiny movements. He thought back to what Mark just said and gave him a flat look.

"I really doubt you could do worse than me right now." Jack was honestly surprised Mark had just basically brushed off the entire incident, while he himself was still hung up on it.

"Jack, it's okay." Mark shrugged. "Don't beat yourself up about this. I know plenty of creatures who would not be as humane as you. You're doing your best, and thankfully your best is good enough."

Jack smiled. "Thanks. Glad to know I didn't ruin everything." He turned towards the door and then back down at Mark.

"You wanna go finish breakfast?" Jack suggested.

"Okay." Mark agreed hesitantly, still feeling queasy at the thought of the sticky syrup. "But, uh, could we maybe skip the syrup this time?"

"Yeah, I think we can do that." Jack chuckled. "If ya really want, we can have cereal instead? I got some lucky charms!"

"Sounds perfect." Mark breathed a sigh of relief at the mention of the familiar sugary cereal. He was surprised the brand shipped out this far in the universe.

"Great!" Jack stared at Mark for a bit before looking down.

"Um, so do ya wanna start heading that way and I can get it ready?" Jack asked, figuring Mark would want to get there on his own again.

Mark was surprised when Jack offered to let him walk on his own. In truth, Mark was feeling rather tired, but he knew that he shouldn't pass up an opportunity to display his independence when it was so willingly offered.

"Sure." Mark agreed, but his heart wasn't in it. He hooked his grappling hook back into place on the edge of the nightstand and began to rappel down.

Jack watched Mark climb down before standing and moving away and towards the door. "I'll, ah, be in the kitchen if ya need me." Jack took one last glance at Mark before making his way over to the kitchen. As he was throwing out the waffles and getting started on the cereal, he couldn't help but worry about Mark. Even if he was just in the other room. Something about not knowing exactly where he was had him a little freaked out.

Mark jumped down of the rope and tumbled onto the carpeted floor. He began to make his way towards the door at a leisurely pace, knowing Jack would probably be back soon anyways. Mark saw the little robot eyeball thing watching him from its charging station.

"Hey, Sam." Mark gave it a nervous wave. Was it just his imagination, or did Sam seem to give him a growl? Mark began to walk a little faster towards the door. That thing may be cool, but it was also downright creepy.

Jack finished up the bowls of cereal, putting Mark's portion into a little saucer instead of a bowl, in order for him to eat them a little easier. He popped a marshmallow into his mouth before looking out into the living room and on the floor.

"Mark! You almost here!" Jack yelled, although he wasn't sure if he would be able to hear Mark calling back or not.

"On my way!" Mark yelled as loud as he could in response, but he knew Jack probably couldn't hear his little voice. Thankfully Jack had been kind enough to leave the bedroom door open and Mark had already travelled half the length of the hallway. Mark was smart and kept to the edge of the wall, just in case Jack came back. He still wanted to avoid being stepped on.

Jack didn't hear anything and kind of stepped more into the living room, looking into the hallway. He just barely spotted a small figure walking near the walls. Jack smiled.

"Sorry, just checking on ya. Couldn't hear you from where I was."

"That's fine." Mark yelled up and gave him a wave, seeing Jack peeking in from the living room. He picked up the pace a bit, going more at a light jog. He didn't know whether to thank Jack for trusting Mark on his own, or curse him for making him do this twice in one day. Perhaps a bit of both was in order.

Jack smiled and went back to the kitchen, he took a seat and patiently waited for Mark to get here on his own. He messed with his bowl of cereal, but he was gonna wait to eat until Mark was here as well. Hopefully that would be soon.

Mark ran across the living room as fast as he could without making it too obvious. He didn't want to seem completely out of breath when he reached Jack, who seemed to be patiently waiting at the kitchen table.

"I'm here!" Mark called up, staying a little bit away from the table just so he could look up at Jack's face. Even so, Mark had to crane his neck. Good lord, this was intimidating! Mark almost felt like sprinting all the way back out of pure fear, but he urged his legs to stay still.

Jack looked down to see Mark on the floor. He smiled. "Glad you could make it!" Jack joked. He waved across the table.

"Foods ready and waiting for ya. And don't worry, I haven't poured the milk yet." Jack winked and then laughed. He sat back and waited for Mark to start climbing up the table.

Mark looked up at the kitchen table leg, letting out a nervous gulp. The feeling of free falling earlier that morning still terrified him, and now Mark felt weaker than he had when he was climbing to prove a point. There was no way Mark was going to be able to climb up there.

"Hey, Jack?" Mark shifted from foot to foot, embarrassed to have to ask for help.

Jack blinked and looked down confused. "What's up?"

"Could you maybe, give me a hand?" Mark let out an awkward laugh at his own choice of words.

"Oh!" Jack was surprised, he was sure Mark would have wanted to do it by himself, like earlier. He smiled. "Of course!" He got of the chair and kneeled in front of Mark, placing a hand palm up in front of him.

"All aboard the Jack express!"

Mark smiled, glad he could count on Jack. He climbed onto Jack's hand, sitting down for balance before giving Jack a thumbs up. "Ready!" He said.

Jack did his best to stay perfectly still, still not used to having a tiny person climb onto his hand. As slowly as he could, he lifted Mark up, cupping his other hand behind Mark, just in case. He carefully stood and was about to set him down on the table when he paused. He looked down at Mark and smiled.

Mark frowned when he suddenly stopped moving and was still suspended a few feet above the table. He glanced up at Jack, only to see he was smiling down at him.

"Uh, Jack?" Mark wasn't sure he liked that smile. "You can put me down now."

Jack laughed. "Sorry, sorry. It's just…" He trailed off, kind of embarrassed. "Thanks for trusting me." He put Mark on the table and coughed, before taking his seat and smiling again.

"Well, let us _finally_ dig in!" Jack said as he practically dove into his cereal.

Mark smiled, picking out a piece of cereal from his bowl and nibbling on it like a dinner roll. As bizarre as this was, breakfast with Jack like this was pleasant. It was strangely domestic, like a wife who prepares coffee for her sleeping husband.

As they ate, Jack's thoughts wandered and he suddenly remembered something. Something important. Like the fact that he had a job.

"Ah shoot," Jack groaned and stuck another spoon full of cereal in his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked, mouth full of a bite of marshmallow. Geez, he forgot how much this cereal tasted like cavities. It was pure sugar.

"After everything with, ya know, you yesterday and this morning, I completely forgot about my job. And I'm supposed to run into town today to pick up something. Not to mention I should probably go grocery shopping." He said the last part more to himself. He looked at the time on the wall and relaxed slightly when he realized he still had a few hours until he needed to pick it up.

"Oh." Mark felt almost like a burden, but it wasn't like he asked Jack to come find his ship. He took another bite. "Okay, that's cool. I'm fine with staying here alone." Mark glanced into the hall, sensing movement. Sam was there, watching them. As soon as Sam realized he was noticed, he disappeared, probably back to Jack's room. Mark shuddered and looked away.

Jack bit his lip, not really up for having Mark stay here all by himself. Of course going out into town had its dangers as well, but at least he would be there.

"Ya know you can come with me. Could be fun! And it would give you a chance to see more of the planet." Jack said, knowing that as an explorer, Mark wouldn't be able to resist knowing more about his planet.

"Well…" Mark considered it. The idea of learning more about Bossatron was certainly tempting, but Mark wasn't sure he'd want to be around more giant aliens. Jack was more than enough for him, thank you very much. "I dunno, how would that work?"

Jack hummed, not having thought that far ahead. "Well, I guess the safest option would be a pocket? I think I have a shirt that has a chest pocket that would be perfect." Jack suggested.

"A chest pocket?" Mark cringed. "What if someone bumps into you? What if you fall? What if someone notices me?" He supposed it was the most logical option, but it didn't make it any more appealing.

"Woah, slow down there." Jack said, trying to keep up with all of Mark's concerns. "Everything will be fine, I'll be extra careful. Besides, it's monday. There isn't a ton of people out on the town on a monday. I think we'll be okay."

Mark made a little sound of disagreement, taking another bite of cereal. He was still not fully on board with this plan, but after all Jack had done for him, he wanted to prove that he really was beginning to trust Jack. Not to mention, the idea of going into a giant alien town was both terrifying and slightly more exciting.

"Okay, we'll try it." Mark agreed. "But, I'm testing out the pocket before we leave and if I don't feel safe I'm staying here. Deal?"

"Deal!" Jack took one last bite of his cereal before standing. "I'll go get dressed!" He said before leaving and heading toward his room. He was now looking forward to this otherwise ordinary and boring day a lot more.

"Wait-!" Mark went to call out for Jack, but the green-haired doof was already long gone. Mark walked over to the table edge and looked down, quickly backing up when he realized it was at least a 40 foot drop.

"Welp, guess I'm stranded here." Mark shrugged, returning to his sugary cereal. Not that he had anything better to do, but he hoped Jack abandoning him up on high places when he couldn't get down didn't become a regular event.

Jack hurried back out, now donning a pair of jeans and a red shirt with a noticeable chest pocket. He looked sheepish, having realized he had just left Mark alone on the table. Though it wasn't as if he could take him with him. He had gone to change after all.

"Sorry about that. But are ya ready to test it?" Jack couldn't help but feel excited for some reason.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Mark stood up, dusting the remaining crumbs off his face and clothes. He looked up at Jack, bracing himself.

Jack placed his hand in front of him once again, waiting for Mark to climb on.

"Sir, there's been a development!" Jason rushed into his boss' room, pausing to give an awkward bow. "The homeowner is leaving for the afternoon."

Mason looked up from his papers, placing his hands on his chin as he looked at Jason.

"And the tiny man?" He asked.

"Well, Sam had to go back to charge before I caught the end of the conversation…" Jason shifted from foot to foot, hoping he wouldn't be angry. "But, it seems that he'll be leaving the tiny man home alone."

Mason glared at the inefficiency of the young robot, but smiled at the news of the tiny man being home alone. This was just what he had been waiting for. He stood, the papers from before now completely ignored.

"Gather up a team and head towards the location. I want that tiny man captured and in my possession by nightfall. Do you understand?" He asked as he stood up straight, placing his arms behind his back.

"Yes sir!" Jason rushed out of the office faster than a jackrabbit, eager to get to work.

Mason watched Jason leave before picking up his desk phone and dialing a number. He turned to look out his window as the call was answered.

"Yes, this is Mason. I want you to prepare a room for a guest that will be arriving…"


	10. shopping for sweets

Mark stepped on Jack's hand, already getting familiar to the strange ritual of sitting in another man's hand. He sat on his knees and nodded to Jack.

Jack lifted Mark up to his chest and opened up the pocket with his other hand. He sent one last look to Mark before he carefully slid his hand halfway in and dropped Mark into his pocket. His hand retreated. It was really strange, he could feel Mark's tiny weight but when he looked down it was as if he wasn't there at all. There might have been a slight bulge if you looked hard enough, but other than that, Mark was basically undetectable.

"How does it feel?" Jack asked, curious.

Mark put out his hands to steady himself as he tumbled into the soft walls of the pocket. It was dark, with the only light streaming in from above as Jack held the pocket open. Mark tried to gain his footing and stand up to peer over the edge, but that proved impossible as the pocket continued to rise and fall with Jack's chest.

"It's weird." Mark called up, settling down to treat it like a hammock. "But it's kinda cozy." One nice thing that Mark noticed was the fabric walls felt thick, giving the illusion of protection. "If you're really careful, I suppose this could work..."

"Awesome!" He felt Mark shift around, finally settling down. He smiled.

"You ready to head out right now?" Jack asked, staring down at Mark through the opening of the pocket.

Mark nodded, before remembering Jack couldn't see his face. "Yep!" He yelled out, clutching the folds of the pocket as he braced himself.

Jack smiled and let the lip of the pocket close. He then grabbed his wallet and phone before heading outside. As he walked he took out his phone and texted for a cab and headed towards the meetup place. Which would be a bit more down the road. He made sure to keep his strides even, extra cautious with his tiny passenger. He glanced down.

"You doing okay in there?" He asked.

"Mm-hmm." Mark made a fairly quiet noise of agreement, but he wasn't sure Jack had heard him. His stomach was not enjoying how Jack's gigantic steps, making the pocket rock like a ship in the middle of a hurricane. Of course, that only made him think of the ocean. Mark held in a groan, trying not to picture waves and sharks and whatever other horrors lurked in the deep depths.

Jack couldn't hear the small noise Mark had made and stopped walking altogether. He opened up the lip of the pocket once again.

"Is something wrong, or did I just not hear you?" He could never know with these things.

"I'm fine." Mark took the opportunity to get some deep breaths. "It's just a bit overwhelming, but then again what isn't here?" Mark gave a bit of an awkward chuckle.

"Alright, if you're sure. Just don't be afraid to tell me if something's wrong, okay?" Jack started walking again, almost to the location. The cab would be here at anytime now.

"I should probably mention that I'm taking a cab. So, there will be another person in there with me." Jack said, deciding it would be best to tell Mark and not leave it as a surprise.

Mark felt his heart drop to his stomach at the mention of another giant. Of course there were bound to be others like Jack, but Mark couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect of being surrounded by aliens a hundred times his size. Mark squirmed, beginning to regret his decision to accompany Jack into town. At least Mark still had some time to mentally prepare, and he'd be hidden away in the pocket rather than constantly stared at like some oddity.

Jack felt Mark squirm once he mentioned another 'giant' and Jack placed a hand over the pocket gently. Hoping it would calm him down.

"Don't worry Mark. I won't let anything happen to ya." Jack said with a soft smile. He could see the cab coming in the distance and stopped walking.

Mark felt himself pushed further against Jack's chest, and began to panic before realizing what was happening. It was a strange feeling, but almost like an overwhelming hug from a really enthusiastic friend. Mark smiled at the thought, settling down a bit.

Jack took his hand away as the cab pulled up and Jack climbed into the back. He saw the guy in the front looking at him through the rearview mirror and was suddenly put on edge himself. But he smiled and did his best to act normal.

"Top of the morning to ya." He said and the cabbie nodded at him.

"Where to?" He asked in a gruff voice. Jack winced slightly but played it off.

"Uh, just in the town's shopping district, if ya don't mind." He nodded again and turned on the meter before starting to drive. Jack sat back, trying to relax.

Mark did his best to remain calm as he heard another loud voice overhead. Jack's pocket was doing an excellent job of hiding the outside world from him, as Mark was sure he would have been nothing but jitters if he were out in the open. Instead, all Mark could see was red fabric.

In the quiet cab, Mark could hear was the sound of Jack's heartbeat near his head. It was a bit unnerving at first, what with it being so loud, but it had become comforting. It really made Mark feel like it was only him and Jack for miles around. Yep, just Jack.

The ride lasted no more than ten minutes, but it was a long ten minutes. With Mark with him he didn't initiate in any conversation, so the ride was completely silent. He would have loved to talk to Mark but that was a big no in this case. All he could do was sit back and wait for the ride to be over.

Once the driver pulled off to the side, Jack quickly paid him and hopped out. He looked around the shopping district, happy to see there weren't too many people out and about. He checked the time, seeing that he still had another hour before the package would be ready to be picked up. Just enough time to get a few things from the grocery store.

He entered the nearest one and made a beeline for the candy isle. Checking around to make sure no one was close by, Jack opened the pocket and smiled down at Mark.

"Ya want anything? Go ahead, I'm buying." Jack said with a chuckle.

"Uh, what is it?" Mark asked, looking up at Jack. Mark tried again to stand up and peer out of the pocket, but the bottom fabric proved too unstable and he ended up collapsing on his butt. Mark gave an irritated huff.

Jack chuckled and checked around one last time before sticking his hand in the pocket and scooping Mark out with a simple, fluid motion. He kept his hand close to his chest, just in case someone came in the isle unexpectedly and allowed Mark to see the rows of candy on the wall.

Mark glanced up and down the aisle, looking at nothing but sweets for what felt like miles. He glanced at the packaging. Some of the treats were clearly alien; others, Mark couldn't help but snort at the names of some candies so similar to Earth, and yet different. Stars Bars, NnN's, Holly Ranchers, Rooses Pooses, Kik Kak, and Sneakers, to name a few.

"What's that?" Mark asked, pointing to a box of what seemed to be called Septic Swirls.

Jack looked where Mark was pointing and beamed when he saw what it was. He walked over and picked it up with his free hand, looking it over.

"Man, I haven't seen these in forever! I used to love these as a kid! They're gummy candies that all look the same, a green circle with a darker green swirl, but each one has a different flavor!" He was now tempted to buy this one for himself. Just for the memories alone.

Seeing Jack's excitement, Mark knew he'd have to choose these. How could he choose anything but what clearly was one of Jack's favorite?

"Let's see if their reputation holds, up then." Mark grinned. "I'd love to try them, if you're really buying."

Jack's eyes lit up. "Awesome! You are going to love them." He went to grab another box off the shelf when he heard footsteps coming from the other end of the aisle. A quick glance to his right told him that a woman was making her way into the same aisle. Panicked and not thinking straight, the hand holding Mark wrapped around him and dove into his jeans pocket. He kept his hand there and tried to look as casual as possible as the woman came over.

Mark gasped as Jack unexpectedly grabbed him tightly and shoved him in what must have been another pocket. What was going on? Mark's heart raced as his anxiety rose, breath restricted by Jack's firm grip. Mark squirmed, hoping to get at least a little breathing room.

Jack waved at the lady with his other hand a she gave him a weird look but otherwise ignored him. She looked as though she would be in the aisle for a while so Jack took the initiative and grabbed the other box before going to one of the empty aisles in the way back. He felt Mark squirm and felt guilty as he pulled his hand out and opened it. Revealing a very disheveled looking Mark.

"I'm sorry, I panicked! Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, right?" Jack asked in concern. His one unthoughtful action could have ruined everything.

"No, I'm okay." Mark tried to fix his hair, picking some pocket lint out. "You just scared me, is all. Jeez, you've gotta give some warning or something." Mark took a few deep breaths, remembering Jack's unyielding fingers. It certainly helped remind Mark that there was nothing he could do to ever stop Jack.

Jack deflated a bit as Mark mentioned being scared. "Sorry. But I didn't really have time to warn you. That lady was walking fast!" And his panicked mind had completely forgotten to do so. His first instinct was to hide him and that was what he did. He really wasn't good under that kind of pressure.

"I know…" Mark gave a frustrated sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair a few more times in agitation. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"No!" Jack practically yelled, but then winced at his own volume. He lowered his voice. "Don't let this one thing convince you. We've just started! I'll be better, I promise. There's still a lot I want to show you." Jack said. But if Mark wanted to go home then he would, he wouldn't like it but he didn't want to make Mark stay if he really didn't want to.

Mark covered his ears, wincing at the booming sound of Jack's voice. Talk about sensory overload. Mark had to wait for the ringing noise to subside a bit before he could respond.

"Okay, Jack." Mark said, sounding unsure even to himself. "Let's get going, then." Although truthfully, Mark was now thinking that the sooner they finished this trip, the sooner they could go home.


End file.
